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Nolla sees a gun, Nolla wants to run...
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Now let's tie all of this fear together shall we, by exploring my earlier statement about people being afraid of things they don't understand. For those afraid of guns, maybe it's a phobia to the sight of a gun, sensitivity to the noise, or a healthy fear of bullets. If you had a gun that wasn't loaded, would you be afraid of it? If the answer is no, that suggests you're afraid of mishandling a loaded gun for obviouse reasons. Easily conquered by some formal training.

I've had formal gun training in the military. The gun is a clone of AK-47, and I also used a machine gun a couple of times. It's not that I have a phobia, I was actually pretty good shot. Besides, I really think that it is fun to shoot with them. I'm just saying that in my opinion a gun would lower my chances of survival in most cases.

I've had formal gun training in the military. The gun is a clone of AK-47, and I also used a machine gun a couple of times. It's not that I have a phobia, I was actually pretty good shot. Besides, I really think that it is fun to shoot with them. I'm just saying that in my opinion a gun would lower my chances of survival in most cases.

Honestly, I think your name is absolutely adorable and I couldn't resist using it as an 'attention getter' for my rhyme. Thank you for that.

Ok, time for a true story. My brother is a security guard and had a gun in his house. His girlfriend was a bit weird, but I thought that it's probably no big deal. It became increasingly clear that there were some serious issues, I even suspected some violence going on. So, you can imagine I wasn't too happy about the gun being in the house. I mean, they get into an argument, one of them slaps the other, the other one hits the other, and then someone will die. No matter which one, it would have been a real tragedy.

You can of course kill someone with almost anything you find in the house. A knife, a chair, a computer monitor. But when you are really pissed off and happen to see a computer, the first idea that flashes through your mind is not "I will kill him with that", but you see a gun and that is exactly the first idea that comes into mind, because killing is why the gun exists.

Originally Posted by perfectgirl

Honestly, I think your name is absolutely adorable and I couldn't resist using it as an 'attention getter' for my rhyme. Thank you for that.

Guns are cool, but the hahar-I'm-a-hard-ass-American-f-ing-cowboy,-a-real-man's-man-and-a-rebel,-always-will-be-always-will attitude is really overdone and annoying and sometimes I think THAT'S what disgusts some people more than what is really just a rather ordinary object which happens to make an effective weapon if used with that intention. It's like I believe in some of the NRA's best arguments while still thinking it's one of the finest propaganda machines I know of.

If you walk into someone's house you don't know well you may very well suspect upon seeing a gun some degree of hostility as though it is conspicuous as a kind of warning to you. Anyone would hide a gun from someone they didn't know in the same way a friendly dog won't bear its teeth and make them obvious to you except as a kind of warning. Just because a dog has very sharp teeth though doesn't mean it's dangerous or that it should have it's teeth dulled even though ripping and shredding flesh is part of what some of them are for.

And it explains why some people are uneasy even with an unloaded gun in a room among friends.

Yeah. I was ok with guns being around in the army, and I would be ok with a gun at a cabin, if someone hunts with them there. In these cases the presence of the gun is clearly justified because it serves a purpose. But, I don't see any point having a gun around in a suburb house, and I'm pretty sure I'd be disgusted by it. I might even start to think less of the person who had a gun in their house. I would think they're insecure and probably even paranoid.

I think this would be quite usual reaction around here. We are not used to having guns in our houses.

It's not though. What people think when they see a gun depends on context and social convention. What the object was designed for is entirely irrelevant, but the intention of the display IS important. If you walk into someone's house you don't know well you may very well suspect upon seeing a gun some degree of hostility as though it is conspicuous as a kind of warning to you. But this is contextual. If you know the person is a hunter or marksmanship shooter or whatever and the gun may be out for example if they are showing it to you or cleaning it or something, then it doesn't carry that weight. Anyone would hide a gun from someone they didn't know in the same way a friendly dog won't bear its teeth and make them obvious to you. Just because a dog has very sharp teeth doesn't mean it's dangerous or that it should have it's teeth dulled even though ripping and shreding flesh is part of what some of them are for.

Dogs are for companionship, and dog's teeth are for eating food and playing with chew toys. This is not a valid comparison.

You really don't understand the subconscious mind, do ya?

It's not social convention. Trust me. I grew up surrounded by guns - but surrounded by people who used them sensibly and kept them locked away so angry people couldn't pick them up on impulse, and young children couldn't use them by accident.